THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS
In Revelation 1:9 John tells us that he ‘was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus’.
This brief statement anticipates a dominant focus of Revelation: that Christians have, that is have in their possession, the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Believers are those who ‘hold to the testimony of Jesus’ [Revelation 19:10].
Jesus Christ revealed the truth about God:
‘No one has ever seen God’ but Jesus ‘has made him known’ [John 1:18].
‘If you hold to my teaching … you will know the truth’ [John 8:31,32].
‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’ [John 14:9].
‘God … made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ [2Corinthians 4:6].
‘… the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true’ [1John 5:20].
Those who have truly believed in Jesus Christ hold to, and hold in their possession, the testimony, the witness, of Jesus about God.
This testimony of Jesus exposes the deceptions and lies of the enemy:
In revealing the true nature of God it invalidates all other perceptions of ‘god’.
In revealing the true way of salvation it invalidates all other perceptions of salvation.
In revealing the truth about God’s wrath and judgment it invalidates all other perceptions of judgment.
The testimony of Jesus exposes the wrongness and the impotence of all the religions and cults of the world, and it exposes the sins and the sinfulness of every human being. And it reveals an accountability to the sovereign God that neither Satan nor the world want to acknowledge.
It is this fact that Christians ‘have’ the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, that, above any other facts, attracts the hatred of the world, as we saw last week, and the opposition of the enemy.
It is because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus that John is exiled on Patmos [Revelation 1:9].
Revelation 6:9 refers to the ‘souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony which they had’ [note that the Greek does not have ‘maintained’, but simply ‘had’].
Revelation 12:17 speaks of Satan’s persistent opposition against those who ‘obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus’.
The enemy does not want the world to know the Word of God. The enemy does not want the world to hear and observe the testimony of Jesus. The enemy does not want the world to see the true glory of God. The enemy wants to keep the world deceived and under his dark dominion. His opposition to God, his aggressive hatred of God, is expressed in his various attempts to shut down the truth, to remove the light, by opposing those who have in their possession ‘the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus’.